WE DID IT!!!
Over $10,000 raised for Hillel for Utah during Global Giving Week
On behalf of the nearly 250 Jewish students on Utah’s campuses and our board of directors, we offer our deep appreciation for the support we received during Hillel Global Giving Week, May 2-7. Thanks to gifts from parents, community members, students, friends, and alumni, we were able to meet our match from Hillel International and raise over $10,000!
We are honored by the gratitude often expressed to us by the students who make Hillel for Utah their home each year. Their thanks, and ours, belong to you. You help build the Jewish future by enabling us to welcome, engage, inspire, and support Jewish students and students of all backgrounds on their own terms.
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Our students can tell you best what Hillel for Utah means to them. Watch this short video produced by Jacob Olson, President 2021. |
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Hillel for Utah's Impact 2020-21 |
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Update on the Campus Climate Initiative
Members of the University of Utah administration from Safety, DEI, and Student Services with Hillel's Executive Director and Student President Jacob Olson, continue to work in partnership with Hillel International on the Campus Climate Initiative (CCI) throughout the summer. An outside research firm is currently collecting survey and focus group data from Utah's Jewish and non-Jewish students to analyze the campus climate for Jewish students. Data analysis is expected in August.
Once a baseline climate is established, Hillel will work with campus departments to enhance positive change by clarifying the needs of Jewish students and educating about antisemitism. The steering committee will then, with an advisory committee, make recommendations for changes to campus policies, practices, and educational programs for improving the campus climate both generally and for Jewish students in particular.
"This process has already strengthened our relationships and communication with key University of Utah administrators," said Dana Tumpowsky, executive director of Hillel for Utah. "The initiative will positively affect the campus experience for Jewish students at the University of Utah, now, and into the future."
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Outreach to Students
Violence in the Middle East unsettling
Given the recent violence in Israel, incidences of antisemitism increased on college campuses nationwide and through social media. The staff of Hillel for Utah reinforced some safe practices for social media and our availability to students: "As we anticipate with real hope the new possibilities that await us this summer and beyond, we are also witnessing a time of great pain and uncertainty for Israelis and Palestinians in Jerusalem and across the region. . .Hillel for Utah will always provide a safe and supportive atmosphere for Jewish students. If you're looking for a place to process, share, learn, or explore, Hillel for Utah is here with you and for you."
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Jewish Inspiration Fund
Hillel for Utah’s vision is to inspire Jewish life where all students are empowered to learn, engage in and put Jewish values in action. Hillel for Utah’s Jewish Inspiration Fund (JIF), is a micro grant fund established to help our students grow Jewishly. JIF can support things like Jewish literature, Judaica, conference fees, Jewish learning opportunities, and more!
This past year, students received funding for Shabbat candles and for a menorah.
“I wanted to be able to use my Shabbat candles with my friends to make memories during Shabbat. Now every time I use them I think about Hillel for Utah,” said one recipient.
Students may apply for JIF funds once in an academic year.
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Kvelling
Hillel for Utah students and alumni doing things to kvell about!
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To the Class of 2021:
"We are as great as the challenges we have the courage to face," said Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks. Mazel Tov to the intrepid Class of 2021 who faced the unprecedented challenge of finishing their degrees and who now move on to do even greater good in the world!
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Ella Abramson ‘22, current Hillel for Utah student leader, took over @hillelintl's Instagram in the middle of May. The takeover ended with an Instagram Live interview where Ella talked about her intersecting identities as Jewish, Catholic, and Filipina.
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on navigating the first year of college.
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Amanda Berg '18 is studying to be a physician assistant at Tufts University and plans to finish the program in 2023.
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Maggie Burke ’19 just completed her two-year Springboard Innovation Fellowship at Cornell Hillel. This summer she is working with older teens in the Jewish Outdoor Leadership Institute (JOLI) program at Colorado’s Camp Ramah of the Rockies.
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Sarah Tumpowsky Daenitz ‘12 and her husband André welcomed their daughter, Eleanor Marion, to their family on April 28, 2021. Eleanor joins her big brother, Isaac.
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Sofie Lahaye Landau '15 and Elias Landau '15, welcomed their daughter, Amelia Valentina, in April
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Chloé Laverson ‘21 is now working as the social media manager for Hillel International. She’ll relocate to Washington DC later this summer. Chloé had a summer internship in communication with Hillel International in the summer of 2018 and has worked part time for Hillel International since that time. She said, “This is my dream job.”
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Mazel tov to Leah Weisgal ‘17 and her partner, Jules Barklow, who were engaged in March at the end of a float trip down the Green River. Most recently, Leah has been managing a surgical radiology unit at an HCA hospital in Denver. She’s starting a master of nursing program at Columbia University in New York City this month--moving to the city with her dog, Acadia, for the four semester program. While attending school, Leah is maintaining her ties in Denver, as a CASA volunteer. (CASA matches advocates who work towards the best interest of abused and neglected children in the court system).
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Joshua Zweighaft '15 is a customer operations analyst for CAMP Systems in Long Island. CAMP Systems is an aviation maintenance systems company. His photo is from the recent Westminster aviation celebration held at the SLC airport. He said, “I was only in Utah for a night, otherwise I would have come by to say hi!. I am very sad that Westminster is shutting down the aviation program but I am left with many good memories from the school and Hillel.”
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Special thanks to our Board of Directors
for their incredible support of Hillel for Utah students
Dr. Susan Arsht, Assistant Professor of Management,
Westminster College; Secretary
Adam Bronfman, President, The Samuel Bronfman Foundation
and Adam R. Bronfman Family Foundation; Founder and Chair
Neil Kaplan, Director and Shareholder, ClydeSnow Attorneys at Law
Janice Miller, Managing Partner, Miller Haga Law Group, LLP
Stephen Morgan, Executive Director, R. Harold Burton Foundation; Treasurer
Dana Raucher, Executive Director, The Samuel Bronfman Foundation
Alex Shapiro, Executive Director, United Jewish Federation of Utah
with
Rabbi Danielle Leshaw, Hillel International Campus Support Director
Dana Tumpowsky, Executive Director, Hillel for Utah
Jacob Olson, Hillel for Utah President, 2021
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